"Mim," Carter said, crawling into bed.

"Uh-uh," I said. "Only Annie gets to call me that, not you."

Carter laughed and slid his arm under my neck. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked. "If you do, I can tell her not to . . ."

I shook my head and then rested it on his chest. "I like it," I told him. "It's sweet."

We lay there together for awhile and I had almost drifted off to sleep when I heard a loud crash. Carter was on his feet before I could even register what I'd heard. "Annie!" Carter called, frantically. I followed him to her bedroom. Her window was open, her bedclothes were thrown back, and her bedside table had been knocked over, a framed picture of Jessica lay on the floor, glass smashed.

"Call the police," Carter instructed as he bolted out the front door.

I picked up the phone and, in a trance, dialled 9-1-1. "Hello, do you have an emergency?" the woman on the phone asked.

"Yes, um, my . . ." My what? What was Annie? My boyfriend's daughter? She was more than that to me. "My daughter's gone."

"How long has she been missing?" the nasal voice asked.

"About two minutes," I said.

"Ma'am, we don't investigate missing persons until at least . . ."

"No, you don't understand," I interrupted. "She's three-years-old and was taken from her bedroom."

The dispatcher took my name, Carter's name, Annie's name, and our address. "We'll send some police immediately, Ms. Lockhart."

I hung up the phone and Carter opened the door. "Nothing," he said. "Didn't see anything."

"The police are coming," I said. Carter nodded and went into the kitchen and started pawing through everything.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to stop crying.

"Looking for a ransom note." After a minute he gave up and sat down on the couch, his head in his hands. I sat next to him. "What are we gonna do?" he asked, his voice breaking.

"We're gonna get her back," I said, trying to convince myself. There was a loud knock at the door. It was the police. I let them in and they asked all the questions that the cops in the movies did.

Carter showed one of them, a tall thin man with a beard, to Annie's bedroom and gave him a recent photo of Annie while I watched the other one, a dumpy blond woman, attach a recording device to the phone. Carter and the tall cop came into the living room. "There will almost certainly be a ransom demand," the cop was saying. "Usually cases like these are solved within 48 hours."

Carter swallowed. The phone rang. The dumpy cop nodded for me to answer it. "Hello?" I said shakily.

"Abby?" A familiar voice filled the room through the recorder. "How could you not tell me about Annie?"

"Jake?" It was Jake. The bastard who beat me up. He took Annie.

"How could you not tell me that I have a daughter?" he snarled.

"Jake . . ."

"You knew how much I wanted a kid."

"Jake . . ."

"And you gave her that asshole Carter's name!"

"JAKE!" He stopped. "She's not yours. She's not even really mine."

"What?" Jake asked.

"She's Carter's. His and Jessica's. We can do a DNA test if you don't believe me."

There was silence for a minute. "That Carter . . .he's rich, right?"

I hesitated. But Carter motioned for me to say yes. "Yes," I said.

"How rich?" Jake asked.

"I don't know," I said, massaging my temple.

"Bring $5 million in cash to the old warehouse on Buxton Street in 24 hours. Just you. No one else."

"I wanna know if she's safe," I said. "Let me talk to Annie."

Jake sighed and then I heard a small, scared voice say, "Mim?"

Fresh tears streamed down my face. "Hey baby," I said. "You're gonna be OK."

I heard a scuffle, a squeal of pain, and a slap. "Bring the money tomorrow if you wanna see her again." He hung up.

****************************

"I don't like this," I said. I stared at the brown suitcase in my lap.

"We had no choice," Carter said. "They had to come. We got them involved." He was referring to the police. They had surrounded the building. Carter had been given a walkie-talkie to contact them once Annie and I were safely back in the jeep.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. "Abby, wait." Carter pulled me back and kissed me. "It'll be OK."

I walked towards the building, the suitcase clutched tightly in my hands. "Jake?" I called softly. "I have the money." No answer. "Jake?"

Response to reviews -

ER - Carby - Luva - I probably won't get bored with this one. I usually only give up when people start insulting me.

Hyperpiper91 - Thanks!

Carbylobsterandavrilfan - Here ya go!

Vkh214 - Annie's great, isn't she? Those stories are all things my dad has done.

Jasonsgurl07 - I saw a movie where a little girl called her aunt "mim" and I thought it was so cute that I used it!

LoopyLu1 - Yay!

AbbyLockhart2 - Rambling is good. As is carbyness.

Jackie - More is coming soon!